At 8:00 p.m., the eye of Hurricane Irma was located near latitude 19.1 North, longitude 66.1 West. Irma is moving toward the west-northwest near 16 mph, and this general motion is expected to continue for the next couple of days. On the forecast track, the extremely dangerous core of Irma will continue to pass just north of Puerto Rico tonight, pass near or just north of the coast of Hispaniola Thursday, and be near the Turks and Caicos and southeastern Bahamas by Thursday evening.

Maximum sustained winds are near 185 mph with higher gusts. Irma is a category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Some fluctuations in intensity are likely during the next day or two, but Irma is forecast to remain a powerful category 4 or 5 hurricane during the next couple of days.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 50 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 185 miles. A sustained wind of 55 mph with a gust to 70 mph was recently reported at an NOS observing site in San Juan Bay, Puerto Rico.